All posts in Film

I really like the Panasonic Lumix GX80 (or GX85 in the US). There’s one this missing from the camera, and that is the flat CineD profile found on many of the higher tier Lumix cameras, until today. BTM_Pix user on the EOSHD forums shared their method for using the camera’s Wifi protocol to upload the CineD profile to a custom mode. Continue Reading

Got back from Newquay, Cornwall and took the Panasonic Lumix GX80 with me. So far I really like the handling for a travel camera, small enough to carry around all day and very unassuming. But perhaps the best feature, which makes this my preferred travel camera, is the ability to charge it from a standard micro-usb cable. No more carrying around a separate battery charger and adapter cable! I think the other thing, along with perhaps a GH4-like battery life, that could be improved would be the inclusion of flatter picture styles that most of the other UHD capable Lumix cameras have. This, I’m hoping, may still be added in a firmware update? Unlikely I’m sure but, much like the GH2 days, it hasn’t stopped the ability to achieve Continue Reading

Perfect opportunity try the Canon 100mm f2.8 (non-IS) macro on the Sony A7R II in crop mode. The on sensor image stabilisation works wonders for macro work, even able to pan around without too much judder.

Another trip down to Dorset, a good opportunity to shoot some more clips on the Panasonic GX80. I tested out quite a few image profile and setting tweaks to maximise dynamic range and found out that the playing with the iDynamic and Shadow/Highlight options didn’t really help with extending latitude and made the tonal curve more confusing to correct while grading. I’m still hopeful for a firmware update to enable a flatter, more log-like picture profile. 🙂

Finished putting together the shots from a recent, massively fun job for Gramafilm. The work consisted of 20 VFX shots orf various complexity, featuring live-action astronauts on both the Moon and an adapted version of the ISS. My work started on set as VFX supervisor, each day I was able to test post processes on the set to give an idea of the end shot as well as starting to model the various CG objects. Continue Reading

Trying out s-log settings for high saturation, perhaps it’s s-gamut colour mode that was washing things out. This was graded in After Effects but I also tried out DaVinci Resolve for the first time and it’s really nice to use, particularly being able to use the scopes. It’s an unbelievable free tool! The GH4 is very sharp out of camera, some say to a fault. I’ve not done any side by side comparisons, but I’m having a hard time getting the Sony A7RII look as nice on hyperfocal shots. Might do a head to head test soon.

Getting a handle on the image profiles in movie mode. I’ve played around with Neutral with -3 contrast, PP6 and PP7 (slog2). I’m liking how slog2 performs in these situation but find it hard to recover colour saturation compared to other profiles. This was also the first time I’d used the smart remote app for android, which works really well but I don’t seem to be able to select slog2 or any picture profile, instead it gives the option to use the photo orientated ‘creative styles’ only.

I love the panasonic GH4 and Canon 5D series and am hoping the Sony A7R II can be both in a relatively compact package. I bought the camera a few days ago from Park Camera’s London (really helpful guys), taking advantage of their Metabone’s offer, getting the EF-E adapter for £100. I popped out at lunchtime to test of the video capabilities around Shoreditch Continue Reading

The Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 didn’t work out for me in the video department and the Sony A7SII has come out with 4K internal, full frame and a 5-axis stabilisation. In this video I’m working out if I could get a small, more portable lens tele-zoom with the A7SII for similar depth of field.

Back from a lovely trip to Devon. Here’s a few clips taken while out and about. I really like the portability of the GH4 and having a huge focal length range in a small bag. With the 4K I pretty much exclusively shoot video and pull stills from them. I usually head back to a Continue Reading

I’m selling my Lumix 35-100mm 2.8 as it does stabilise video but still shows signs of micro jitters when the lens is held quite still (v1.3). So I’m looking to adapt the Tamron 24-70mm 2.8 VC to use as a faster, longer zoom on the GH4. At the moment I only have a passive adapter (used in this video) but I’m thinking the Metabones smart adapter (non-speedbooster) might do the trick. Having 70 x 2.3 (c4k crop) = ~160mm @ 2.8 on the long end.

Finished shooting a little promotion concept film that I’ll show in some shape or form soon. It was shooting bars and nightlife without lighting so called for a very sensitive camera. The A7S didn’t disappoint. I had a night before to figure out he right colour profile for the job and found the S-Log very hard to expose compared to Cine-D on the GH4. Here’s a the test video.

Got the GH4! And so far I’m very happy with it. 4K video is sharp and there are is a huge amount of flexibility when it comes to image profile adjustments. Almost too much 🙂 Seems like a balance of achieving a flat image for grading without getting too flat as to loose fidelity in the 8bit compression.

Had the pleasure of popping down to Trafalgar Square on the 5th of April to see thousands of pillow touting warriors! Shooting video on the Canon 5D Mark III with the MLRAW module. I’ve been tempted by the MLV update that the Magic Lantern guys have been working on and I could of taken advantage of it on this occasion as I was fumbling about with my phone to record clips of audio to accompany the little edit.

This was probably the first time I’ve switched image stabilization off on the lenses to capture more staccato motion and a high shutter speed of 1/200 or above to mimic the 45 degree shutter angle used on films like ‘Saving Private Ryan’. Mixing that with 1/50 shutter for the calm shot to contrast. Also choosing to do most of the grade within Adobe’s camera raw window to hue shift the skin tones and blues.

Trying out the GM1’s video with the compact kit 12-32mm lens. Pretty amazing tech crammed into a tiny lil camera. Here are a few of the stills I’ve taken so far with the kit lens, the Lumix 20mm 1.7 and a Fujian 35mm 1.7 cctv lens. So far I’m really impressed with the quality of both images and video, having the wifi to transfer images is also super handy. I did notice the image stabilization is a bit jerky compared to Panasonics other kit lenses (14-45mm, 14-140mm) but I suppose it’s amazing enough to of been able to fit it in such a small lens.

As part of a street photo meetup, I got a bit of footage from the top of the Centre Point building outside London’s Tottenham Court Road tube. It was pretty great watching the sun go down from so high up!

Out shooting some low light footage with the 5D Mark III with Magic Lantern RAW module. The kind of invert, softlight grade I usually like to use to boost shadows seem to create quite a bit of aliasing on high contrast footage.